Students manage working in food industry - The Baylor Lariat

Baylor students learn valuable lessons by combining school and work. Brittany Tankersley | Photographer

By Camille Cox | Staff Writer

Working in the food industry requires hard work, responsibility and patience. Many Baylor students manage this with a full-time course load as well.

Irving, Calif., sophomore Megan Keefe said she started working at Southern Roots Brewing Company as a bartender this semester.

“I had previous experience in the brewery industry,” Keefe said. “I worked as a host, food runner and busser for my local brewery back home, so when I came back to Waco for my sophomore year, I knew I wanted to work in a restaurant industry that I was already familiar with.”

With new restaurants and locations popping up all over Waco, students can work within their community, meeting new people while maintaining an income.

“I love meeting the people that sit and come up at the bar and just chat with me while I work my shift,” Keefe said. “They are really good about letting me balance going to Baylor also, so they let me do work when it’s a little bit slower as long as I’m getting up with all my duties as a bartender.”

Katy sophomore Cayden Conrad said she works at Rollin’ and Bowlin’ — located inside East Village Dining Commons — as an employee and part-time supervisor.

“I work between 10 to 13 hours a week, and they work around our class schedules and make sure that we never have to skip class,” Conrad said. “They want us to prioritize our school work, so they are very flexible with our hours.”

Conrad said she enjoys working with her coworkers and interacting with students, faculty, staff and all the other customers who visit throughout the day.

“My favorite part about working there is the environment: the coworkers and people I get to work with,” Conrad said. “It’s super fun getting to create different smoothie bowl recipes and just laughing with them and interacting with all different people during the day.”

Houston sophomore Maggie Summerlin works for Pop’s Lemonade, which is currently located on campus near Fountain Mall but will spend the upcoming weekend at Magnolia. She said she began working there after seeing on Instagram that it was hiring.

“I like how direct we are with our customers and how we’re able to really form relationships and show the love we have for what we sell and pour that directly into the love we have for our customers,” Summerlin said.

Summerlin said she believes the food industry teaches valuable lessons for young workers and encouraged everyone to work in the food industry at some point in their life.

“You have to be on because you are serving people constantly, but I would encourage everyone to work in the food industry for at least a year because of the lessons you learn from dealing with customers that are going to be rude and working with coworkers that you’re going to work with so closely,” Summerlin said.

Billings, Mont., sophomore Aiden Sturdevant joined one of the newest food industry locations in Waco called Dutch Bros, working as a ‘broista.’ Sturdevant said she applied there after being a fan of the company for a while.

“I love the experience I’ve had every time I’ve been there as a customer, so when I was looking for a job going into my sophomore year, I thought that it would be a really good place to work,” Sturdevant said. “I thought it was really great that we were bringing that kind of business into Waco.”

Sturdevant said she believes jobs in the food industry build character and work ethic, especially for students who balance work with school.

“I think it’s really a good way to stay engaged in the community, and learning what having a job is like before going into your career is important,” Sturdevant said.

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